phillips@sunybcs.UUCP (Gretchen Phillips) (05/30/85)
I am interested in any information about UNIX(tm) running on
a Sperry 7040. I have only vague information to start with
like "it is a 'big' machine" and "maybe runs 4.2BSD".
1) Does anyone currently run UNIX(tm) on a Sperry?
2) If you do, what version are you running (SysV or 4.2)?
3) How well does it perform?
4) What are the major limitations?
5) Do you think it could be useful in an academic environment?
Gretchen
CSNET: phillips@buffalo
UUCP: {decvax,dual,rocksanne,watmath}!sunybcs!phillipsguy@sun.uucp (Guy Harris) (06/01/85)
> I am interested in any information about UNIX(tm) running on > a Sperry 7040. I have only vague information to start with > like "it is a 'big' machine" and "maybe runs 4.2BSD". > > 1) Does anyone currently run UNIX(tm) on a Sperry? > 2) If you do, what version are you running (SysV or 4.2)? > 3) How well does it perform? > 4) What are the major limitations? > 5) Do you think it could be useful in an academic environment? If the Sperry 7040 is a 32-bit supermini in a yellow cabinet with a (*YUK!*) Cipher tape drive, it's really a Computer Consoles Power 6/32 with the word "Power 6" crossed out and the word "Sperry" written in in crayon. It is about 4-7 times an 11/780 in total throughput, and about 7 times an 11/780 in CPU speed (lots more if you do many subroutine calls; the CCI Irvine people figured out how to make "calls" scream). It runs 4.2BSD and will run a system best described as "what 4.2BSD would have looked like had it been based on System V Release 2 Version 1" (no flames from purists please). That system is System V Interface Definition compatible, and is S5 compatible except that directories look like they do in 4.2BSD (but then everybody should be using the directory library, in which case they shouldn't care what directories look like). It has all the S5 IPC stuff and the 4.2BSD networking stuff as well. It has all the S5 utilities (with the usefuly Berkeley featurees added) and all the Berkeley utilities as well. It even has the Berkeley tty driver, job control and all. The big limitations I can think of are: 1) the tape drive is one of those slow Cipher tape drives which mounts the tape horizontally; it *intensely* dislikes loading tapes < 2400 feet (I'm not sure whether it can do so at all), and doesn't even like loading 2400 foot tapes (I've suffered through those drives on many machines) 2) the terminal controller isn't that great; it has a low aggregate throughput, interrupts the CPU too much, and has other problems that cause it to load the CPU down. I believe that later revisions of the controller have improved this quite a bit, though. I believe Ethernet boards are being delivered now; I know they exist. It gets quite a bit higher FTP throughput than does an 11/780. Guy Harris